Kronqvist, Linda

Falkmer, Torbjörn

An evaluation of the school transportation vehicle's icon - an experimental study (English)

Abstract [sv]

This study aimed to test whether the present law about school transportation traffic sign leads to enhanced traffic safety, measured as adjustment of traffic behaviour from fellow road users. The fellow road users' behaviour on roads with 50 km/h and 70 km/h was compared in meetings with school buses at stand still in real traffic. Three different types of signing were tested: - without any sign, - with the school transportation traffic sign only, - with the school transportation traffic sign equipped with blinking lights. The fellow road users' behaviour was measured by their speed, lateral position and fixation patterns on the buses. In order to further explore the observed driver behaviour, self reported behaviour data and experiences from the study were gathered. The study was semi experimental and involved data from 24 randomly selected drivers. The study showed that the present school transportation traffic sign does not affect road user behaviour. Only when it is combined with blinking lights it affected the drivers' behaviour. On 70 km/h roads, the average speed decreased by approximately 9 km/h as an effect of the blinking lights. On 50 km/h roads the corresponding decrease was significantly lower and only found in the nearby areas of the busses. Lateral position was not affected by any of the school transportation traffic sign conditions. The blinking lights made the drivers visually, foveally aware and at the same time these fixations on the blinking lights did not prevent fixations on other important objects, such as the bus driver. The study recommended that future school transportation signs should have blinking lights, a finding also confirmed by the drivers' self reported acceptance for such a system. The sign should be in another format and with another type of icon than the present, which in turn requires more research.